Rents set to escalate as crackdown tightens

Rental prices have been tipped to rise and housing supply to fall in light of the ongoing investor lending crackdown.

Rental prices have been tipped to rise and housing supply to fall in light of the ongoing investor lending crackdown.

Advantage Property Consulting senior property consultant Brant Williams told RPM that property managers can expect rents to increase in the next six to 12 months as the investor crackdown really takes effect.

“Home loan rates for property investors are going to be a bit higher and they’re also being forced to outlay more capital on their mortgages,” he said.

“Investors will probably pass that on to renters, which will increase the prices.”

The crackdown will make it increasingly difficult for investors to borrow, according to Mr Williams, which will mean fewer investors in the market and more demand for rental properties.

“At the moment, I believe it’s a tenant’s market; but if that supply drops back quite a bit, it will create more competition with tenants and push up rents as well,” he said.

“With the APRA laws and not as many investors able to purchase, I think that will affect the apartment and housing sales market because you’re not going to have as much demand.”

Mr Williams said it will become clear the market is stabilising when more properties get passed in at auction and clearance rates start to fall.

“We’re basically finding, particularly in the Melbourne market, [that] there has been an oversupply of apartments, so that should hopefully come back a little bit, but I don’t think there’ll be a downturn in the housing market.”